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Force of Nature: The Dry 2 **1/2

As was true in 2020’s The Dry—writer/director Robert Connolly’s previous adaptation of a Jane Harper novel about Australian federal agent Aaron Falk (Eric Bana)—the...

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ***

The main problem with 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, aside from digitally desecrating the corpse of Harold Ramis, was that it completely misunderstood the fact that...

The American Society of Magical Negroes ***

Writer/director Kobi Libii concocts the kind of satirical premise that easily could have tipped over into pedantic self-importance, but emerges with a deft...

Dune: Part Two ***1/2

See feature review. Available March 1 in theaters. (PG-13)

Spaceman **

It’s kind of a bad sign when you’re watching what is supposed to be an earnest drama, and all you...

Driving Madeleine **1/2

At the outset, co-writer/director Christian Carion’s drama feels like one of those low-key character studies—and it’s definitely a bit of a surprise when it takes a different...

Hit Man ***1/2 [Spotlight]

Richard Linklater has spent more than 30 years being so good at making risk-taking indie cinema that it’s easy to forget how great he can also be at pure pop entertainment....

Love Me ***1/2 [U.S. Dramatic]

I feel fairly confident that I won’t be the only person short-handing the debut feature from writer/director team Sam & Andy Zuchero as “WALL-E, if instead of WALL-E...

THE IRON CLAW (Sean Durkin, USA, 2023) 5

"If you walk in knowing the basics of the Von Erichs’ history (and I did as I was a huge pro wrestling fan — a mark probably — at the time and saw them...

MONSTER (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2023) 4

"If there’s anything worse than a gimmicky narrative structure that doesn’t work, except as a trick and subterfuge, it’s a film that tells the same...

POOR THINGS (Yorgos Lanthimos, Britain, 2023) 8

"Lanthimos is nothing like the Dardennes, except in one respect — his sensibility is extremely Victoresque. His demento sense of humor and his ideas...

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE (Nicole Newnham, USA, 2023) 3

"Based on what I remembered of her public career, I thought THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE had the potential to be interesting if it concentrated...

DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD (Radu Jude, Romania, 2023, 8)

"So apparently Jude appeals to me in the same way Godard does to those people who don’t think him an empty-headed, bloviating...

THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE (Ilker Catak, Germany, 2023) 6

"a reductio ad absurdum of small-d democratic education and its melting before actual human behavior, including gossip and procedural authority...

AMERICAN FICTION (Cord Jefferson, USA, 2023) 7

"Or what if BAMBOOZLED were a good and smart movie (which is very definitely a fiction)…?"

More at: vjmorton.wordpress.com/2023/12/26/christmas-leftovers/

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SALTBURN (Emerald Fennell, USA, 2023) 3

"Imagine KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, only rewritten by Tennessee Williams’ po-faced Chinese knockoff and directed by Lee Daniels’ non-union Mexican equivalent...

THE IRON CLAW (Sean Durkin, USA, 2023) 5 So the Von Erichs are another thing that Jimmy Carter effed up. More seriously … the opening subjective shot is amazing. And my gut was personally kicked (and...

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ***

It’s more than slightly ironic that in the closing moments of this likely-final entry in the current incarnation of the DC Comics extended universe, it calls back to...

DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD (Radu Jude, Romania, 2023, 8) So apparently Jude appeals to me in the same way Godard does to those people who don’t think him an empty-headed, bloviating...

NAPOLEON (Ridley Scott, USA, 2023, 6)

Just a mess, albeit often a superficially entertaining mess. In some ways this 2 1/2 hour film is the perfect advertisement for the 4-hour director cut that Ridley...

Dicks: The Musical **1/2

There’s a thin line between a movie that’s idiosyncratically weird, and one that feels designed to play midnight screenings—and it’s a line that Aaron Jackson and Josh...